"Mama"

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Third graders learned about artist/author Patricia
Polacco. Polacco was born in Michigan and is from Russian and Ukrainian
descent. We read her book Rechenka’s
Eggs. Her grandmother taught her the art of Ukrainian Egg decorating. We
watched a video of Polacco using the technique of hot wax and dyes in a video
from Reading Rainbow.

For their art project, students first drew three eggs,
one egg had to be overlapping another egg. Next they created patterns and
designs on their eggs like Polacco. Then they traced their eggs and designs in
glue (similar to the way Polacco used hot wax). And lastly they colored in
their eggs using chalk pastels.

First
graders learned about the artist Vincent Van Gogh by reading the story Camille and the Sunflowers. We looked at
several paintings by Van Gogh, and we really studied his Sunflower painting!

For
their project they learned about symmetry. They learned how to fold a piece of
paper in half and cut on the fold to get a perfectly symmetrical shape. That is
how they made their vase for the sunflowers. Students needed to create a
pattern on their vase as well as the table the vase sits on. They traced brown
circles for the sunflower centers and glued them to the background paper. We
did a painting workshop one day and painted our own paper using yellow and
orange and paint scratching tools. This paper is what they used for the petals
of the sunflowers. Lastly they added green stems to their beautiful sunflowers!
Happy spring!

5th
graders learned about the artist Henri Rousseau through a Power Point
Presentation. They also viewed several of his paintings. Henri Rousseau was a
French painter, who worked for the French government for most of his adult
life. He retired early to pursue his love of painting. He is one of the most
famous “naïve” painters, or untrained painters. Rousseau is most known for
painting exquisite jungle animal scenes. The most interesting thing about the
jungle paintings, is that Rousseau had never seen a jungle in his life. All his
ideas came from books, magazines, and his imagination.

5th
graders also learned about the art element EMPHASIS. Emphasis is how an artist
creates a main focus in their painting- an area in the artwork where the artist
wants you to look first. The 5th graders looked at several examples
of artwork and had to find where the artist was creating emphasis.

For
their project, 5th graders looked at lots of images of animal eyes,
all different kinds. We discussed how by drawing just the eye of the animal we
are creating EMPHASIS on that part of the animal. After their eye was drawn in
pencil, students used chalk pastels to color and blend in. They turned out
awesome!

5th graders learned about the positives and negatives of Graffiti art. We watched part of a short video from PBS about how graffiti art has impacted the art world and how it has evolved. Students were able to use the laptop minis to experiment with different styles of graffiti from a wonderful graffiti wesbsite, www.graffiticreator.net . From their they translated their computer art into 2d art. They did awesome! Below is the link to the video.

First graders learned about the
artist Jim Dine through a Power Point Presentation. They viewed several of his
paintings. They learned that Jim Dine loved to paint hearts and use bright
colors in his paintings.

First graders learned how to draw
a GIANT heart. They then outlined it with black oil pastel and used all
different colors to color in the heart. Next, they drew all different types of
lines from their heart to the edge of the paper. They then painted in the white
area between the lines with water colors.

And lastly these wonderful little
artists learned how to sew using a whip stitch. First they evenly measured out
the spots for their holes using their hands and made a mark with their pencil.
Next they used a hole puncher to punch a hole where their dot was. And lastly,
the used colorful yarn and used a whip stitch to sew all the way around their
artwork! They turned out fabulous!

4th
grade students looked a lot of examples of op art.Op
art, also known as optical art,
is a style of visual art that makes use of optical illusions.

Op art works are abstract, with many of the
better known pieces made in black and white. When the viewer looks at them, the
impression is given of movement, hidden images, flashing and vibration,
patterns, or alternatively, of swelling or warping.

2nd
and 3rd graders learned about the Cave Paintings of Lascaux, France.
In 1940, 4 teenagers were playing and knocked over tree. The roots of the tree
revealed a giant hole in the ground. The teenagers went in to explore and
discovered several underground caves all connected. The walls were covered in
ancient paintings mostly consisting of animals, figures, ancient weaponry, and
other symbols. The cave paintings are 17,000 years old!

The students
were able to visit the caves via technology. The Caves of Lascaux has a website
where it can take you on a virtual tour of all the caves. After seeing the
caves, we discussed what the cave art could mean and what these people were
trying to tell us.

We looked
closely at all the cave art. For the project students were to choose one animal
to re-draw onto their paper, they also needed to add in some ancient symbols.
They painted them, used oil pastel for details, and had their handprint sprayed
on. And lastly they got to crumple up their artwork to give it the ancient cave
art look!

Welcome!

Welcome to my art blog! I teach elementary art in Green Bay, WI. The lessons I share are often ideas from other art blogs, Pinterest, lesson shares, or that is where the idea starts from. I love the art education community! I hope that my young artists inspire you!